As a former member of the Intelligence community I can tell you that intelligence analysts are a cynical and pessimistic bunch by nature. Add on pressure from blockheaded senior officers who want their pet theories validated and you have a situation where doom and gloom can get out of hand. That’s what likely happened in Ukraine. It appears to be somewhat rectified.

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FNC: “As Russia massed a large military presence on its border with Ukraine weeks before launching its invasion, Western intelligence officials were concerned the capital city of Kyiv could fall in a matter of days amid a Russian assault.

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Now two weeks into the conflict, the capital remained in Ukrainian hands and Russian troops have failed to make substantial progress as opposition forces continue to put up fierce resistance. Russian forces were reportedly trying to encircle the city, but the loss of equipment and personnel has taken its toll and significantly slowed their advance.” Not exactly what CIA predicted.  “They’re a little bit influenced by that and they wanted to telegraph to the policymakers the urgency,” Fox go to girl on Ukraine Rebekah Koffler told press.

And then there’s this moron. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said in February that Kyiv would fall within 3 days after a Russian invasion. The political general said the operation could result in 15,000 Ukrainian military deaths and 4,000 Russian troop deaths. Bad intelligence or bad general?

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Not the first time. Milley said this about Kabul. “It’s not a foregone conclusion, in my professional military estimate, that the Taliban automatically win and Kabul falls, or any of those kind of dire predictions. There’s a significant military capability in the Afghan government, and we have to see how this plays out.” Dear lord, what a simpleton.

Peter Marocco, a Trump administration official, opined, “As time languished on, Ukraine became prepared.” As for Putin reportedly delaying the attack because of the Olympics? “I don’t see him as having that sort of sensitivity or caring unless there might have been some sort of tactic or mutual agreement with China,” Marocco said. “If he did that, that would be a surprising strategic blunder on his part. I tend to think that there’s another explanation behind the scenes as to why there was this lull before the start. Perhaps to allow predictable sanctions targets enough time to move assets before U.S. sanctions would be put in place.”